Cases of millinery, hampers of wine and brandy, bottles of various sauces, anchovies, and pickles, the whole of which were broken as they came in contact with trunks and packing-cases; dried fish, which gradually became soaked; porter, eggs, and various other descriptions of sea-provisions-all combined to create a stench so nauseous, that it was with the greatest difficulty that we could support it. Among the other floating luxuries was a case of millinery, which had been packed for me in Paris, and which was formed of basket-work. In this precious case were contained all my bonnets-articles of which I had already learned the inconvenience at sea, and which I had replaced by a cloth travelling-capthe only description of head-covering that I possessed which was not carefully enclosed in the wicker-case. My female readers will at once appreciate the extent of my misfortune. I was about to land in the metropolis of a country where ladies substituted muslin for silk, buckram, and feathers, and where it was consequently far from likely that I should be able to supply myself with anything sufficiently wise-like to make a creditable appearance, instead of the spoilt articles in question. I had no alternative on our arrival but to land bonnetless; and the first use which I made of a Constantinopolitan acquaintance, who met me with offers of service, was to engage her to discover if, by some lucky chance, the unfortunate hiatus in my wardrobe could by any possibility be filled up. In 1836, the Frank quarter of Pcra boasted but one milliner, an Italian, who supplied the ladies of the different embassies with finery, which she procured from Vienna. How these affairs may now be arranged, I cannot even guess; for recent travellers have, on their return from Turkey, occasionally put forth statements in which I cannot at all recognise the country and the people as I knew them. It will perhaps be sufficient for me to state, in order to prove the difficulty of indulging in matters of personal vanity, and the sensation created by European novelties consequent thereupon, that, during our stay in the capital, a French hair-dresser established himself, who exhibited in his window a couple of the wax busts, which are at home the usual ornaments of the shops of these traders ; and which so excited the wonder and admiration of the natives, that the street in which he lived was rendered impassable by the dense crowd that collected to gaze upon them, until it was found necessary to disperse them by the aid of the police; and their fame having reached the Reis Effendi (minister of foreign affairs), he rode to the house of the astonished and frightened Frenchman, in order to convince himself whether they were indeed the miracles of art and beauty which he had been taught to believe; when he was so enchanted with the waxen wonders, that he offered a large sum of money for them, being anxious to present them to the Sultan his master as ornaments for his summer palace. This incident will, I think, go far to prove that my dilemma was no common one; and I was comparatively glad to learn, through my agent, that La Signora was daily awaiting a case from Vienna which was to contain three bonnets for the Austrian ambassadress; and that, on condition of my paying whatever price she might see fit to put upon it, the accommodating modiste would oblige me with one of the three. At that period I was not acquainted with the amiable Baroness S, and consequently felt no compunction in depriving her of some portion of her excess, in order to supply my own necessity. I therefore acceded at once to the terms proposed; and in the middle of January, when the earth was covered with snow, I became the happy possessor of a bonnet of sky-blue satin, decorated with French flowers as parti-coloured as the rainbow, for which I had given in exchange sundry coins, whose value amounted to between five and six guineas English. The predicament was most mortifying, and for some seconds I stood gazing in stupid horror at the wreck before me; but the absurdity of the thing was so monstrous, that in spite of the dilemma to which I was reduced, a sense of the ridiculous overpowered every other feeling, and I laughed as heartily as though I had not been myself the victim of the jest. It was a case in which clearly no one was to blame. The simple-minded slave understood nothing about bonnets; and in fact neither she nor her mistress seemed to the last to comprehend that any injury had been done; or that the misused fabric of satin and flowers was one whit less graceful or less becoming, when I had pulled and squeezed it into the nearest approach to a head-dress of which it was still susceptible, than it was when I first presented myself in the harem. Every portion of their own costume might be folded, pressed, and packed at pleasure, and they were consequently not prepared to expect that mine was less accommodating. The destruction of any article of dress by a domestic, where its nature and capabilities were understood, would have been an affront to the guest who suffered; but in this case the error was one of ignorance; and this incident, simple as it was, may serve as an example and a proof that difficulties will arise, and annoyances occur, to every traveller, of which those who cause them are as virtually innocent as though they had not been actors in the little drama. Let the travelling English bear this fact in mind; and both their temper and their digestion will be improved by the reflection. It is just possible that those among whom they sojourn may discover as many discrepancies in their own mood and manner as they have discovered on their side; while it will not be wholly profitless for them also to remember that they have sought the annoyances of which they complain; while the unconscious offenders are the victims of passive, or perhaps indignant, endurance of an evil which has been forced upon them. JOKES ON THE COTTON FOLK. Of all people in the world, the cotton folk of Lancashire have been made the subject of a novel! The idea will strike all other persons as most extraordinary: what! heroes and heroines, and all the other characters of fiction, from the cool villain to the crazed oddity, found amongst the unromantic brick chimneys in and around Manchester. In the people themselves, the idea will probably awake feelings much akin to those of the inhabitants of Cincinnati on receiving the earliest copies of Mrs Trollope's work on America. Even in the Exchange on a Tuesday, we should not wonder if one were to hear occasional remarks on this plaguy new novel filling up pauses in the discourse on yarns and twists. After all, the notion is not so absurd as may at first sight appear. Manufacturers and their work-people have feelings and passions as well as other human beings, and that very opposition to the romantic in which they live might be interpreted as an advantage, in as far as it was likely to afford scenes and events of a fresh and unhackneyed character. However this may be, a novel has been written on the cotton districts, the principal characters of which are manufacturers and the members of their families, and the scenes of which, with few exceptions, lie in the immediate neighbourhood of Manchester.* There will probably be different opinions as to the general truth of the impression which is given by this work respecting the class whom it professes to delineate. It will be said to be over-drawn-to be true only in part, or of a section of the class, and so forth; It will be readily imagined that this piece of un- and probably some of these objections may be sound, seasonable finery was the alpha and omega of my for how can any such delineations be universally true? care; and it will not therefore be matter of surprise, But the characters and some of the descriptive scenes that when, on the second occasion of its appearance, I may be true, nevertheless, to certain originals, or secwent over to Constantinople from our residence at tions of the class, which the writer has had opportuPera, to visit the wife and daughter of the Pasha of nities of observing; and as such let them be taken. Scodra, with whom I was to sojourn for a couple of It is by no means certain that partial pictures of this days, I requested that the Greek lady who acted as my interpreter, would intreat of our hostess to give kind are calculated for nothing but to offend the mass. strict orders to the slave who took charge of our The poignant remarks of Johnson on the Scotch are wardrobe to be extremely careful of my bonnet, as it now acknowledged to have contributed much to the was the only one that I possessed, and would be re-improvement of their domestic habits, and already the placed with great difficulty. This was courteously acceded to my wishes, and a promise given by the attendant that all due attention should be paid to all that belonged to me. I accordingly troubled myself no farther on the subject; nor, amid the novelty of satire of Mrs Trollope and other European observers is beginning to effect some most desirable reforms on the other side of the Atlantic. Mrs Stone describes the wealthy manufacturers of little admixture of that intellectuality and taste which often grace much humbler scenes, it is little to be wondered at, however much one might wish it were otherwise. The most conspicuous result of wealth without refinement seems to be a disposition to competition in the shows of life-splendid furniture, equipages, and entertainments. The wife of a cotton-man rests content with what she has, and the style in which she has for some time lived, until, some luckless day, she finds that a neighbour has got some fine piece of plate which she wants, some better kind of carriage or horses, or had her drawing-room newly furnished in a superior style; and then she knows no peace till she has been made in all respects equal. Strange as it may seem, this new-sprung population is more split into grades and castes than any aristocratic community in the country. Men who sell calico in whole pieces, form a sect who will have no social intercourse with men who "cut the piece." To the struggle for eminence which consequently takes place, Mrs Stone ascribes "the out-Heroding-Herod in dress, in equipage, in entertainments, in luxury, in expense and extravagance of every kind, which so often makes the cotton-man, despite of fifty redeeming qualities, the butt and ridicule of those, from home, with whom he may chance to associate. He is a cotton-man,' seems to be a sufficient explanation for anything that may appear absurdly ostentatious or extravagant; and it is a common bye-word in the mouths of many who are themselves totally deficient both in the shrewdness to plan, and the unwearied energetic assiduity to realise, the undertakings which make the cotton manufactu rer what he is." The ostentation is only relieved by a hearty hospitality which accompanies it. We shall here quote a characteristic scene from the novel :--"The drawing-room in which Mrs Langshawe received her visitors was as splendid as money could make it. The furniture and decorations were, however, all good the best of their kind; but there was an elaboration in the style, and a profuseness in the ornaments, that savoured more of a heavy purse than a cultivated taste. The walls were hung with silk damask, finished off by massive gold cornices and mouldings, or draped round the magnificent mirrors, extending almost from the ceiling to the ground, which reflected the forms of a fair bevy of ladies, whose garments were not, certainly, their least noticeable appendage. The couches, the ottomans, the bosses, the buhl time-piece, the profusion of ornamental trifles that glittered around, the choice exotics in the recesses, the elegant china ornaments, and the magnificent cut-glass chandelier which sparkled like diamonds in ten thousand different hues, and gleaming in the mirrors, gave the idea of a fairyland vista opening on every side-these, each in itself fit for the mansion of a nobleman, were yet clustered and crowded incongruously. They were, however, not merely collected, but, comparatively speaking, naturalised in the house of this low-born and uneducated cotton manufacturer. The dining-room was equally expensive and luxurious, though somewhat more sombre in its adornments. But the dinner-ye gods! The table was profusely decorated with plate, magnificent and modern, and literally groaned under the weight of all those eatables that man's gurmandise rious of fish were followed by a course of more subcan feed.' The richest of soups and the most luxustantial food; which in its turn gave way to a succession of such elaborate collections of eatables, as most surely were never congregated on any but a 'cottonman's table.' And then, the manner of discussing it! Most earnestly did the good company do homage to the treat. There was no elegant trifling with plates and forks, no sentimental withdrawal from the vulgar and everyday habit of eating: the dinner was actually its progress, except on the merits of the various dishes and elaborately devoured. Little was spoken during and the intricacies of the culinary preparations. The good hostess entered with great animation into the mysteries of her cuisine, and exchanged sundry remarks with a well-dressed and rather saturnine-visaged gentleman on her left hand, on the propriety of this sauce having a grain more cayenne, or that ragout a tice done to it. The company evidently met to eat ; thought less seasoning. Never had dinner more jusand eat they did. There was, it may be supposed, none of that quietude of manner which in really highly-bred company places visitors, even of inferior rank, so completely at their ease, when their wants are supplied they know not how, and their feeling of strangeness is banished -how-they never think to inquire; still less was there that caricature of high breeding assumed by the doubtfully distinguished,' when a frigidity, that chills the scene, did I again waste a thought upon the sub- Manchester and its neighbourhood, as for the most the very blood to an icicle, is substituted for aristoject, until we ultimately prepared to depart; when, in part men sprung from a humble origin, and who have cratic ease, a meagre table for a 'genteel' display, and reply to my request for my walking-dress, the slave their original manners and style of thought and feel-able nonchalance. The courtesies of Mr and Mrs Langgrown rich and luxurious, without greatly changing a cold indifference to your wants as a proof of fashionwho had been my principal attendant during my visit knelt before me, holding out upon her spread ing. But not only is this true of individuals: the shawe's table were of a different order. Most actively, whole county was recently poor and thinly peopled; most unweariedly, did they exert themselves in specipalms a flat something covered over with a gold embroidered napkin. At first I did not apprehend the it has been suddenly enriched, and filled with a dense fic attentions to each individual, at the somewhat extent of my misfortune, and throwing aside the ele- population through the efficacy of industry, while crowded table. Dish after dish was recommended gant drapery by which my less costly habiliments had there was no corresponding growth of any of those and pressed on each; voices rose to a somewhat lofty elements which tend to refine and cultivate-a lei been shrouded, I took possession of the shawl that lay surely and scholarly class-nor any attraction for such pitch in the earnestness of hospitable intreaty; and beneath it; but my consternation may be imagined when, on withdrawing it from its resting-place, I discovered beneath its folds my unfortunate and ill-used bonnet, which, like its companion the shawl, had been duly folded and put under a press, where neither dust nor insect could intrude to injure it! elements coming in from without. If, then, wealth and splendour are to be found in this district, with The title is "William Langshawe, the Cotton Lord." By Mrs Stone, author of "The Art of Needlework." 2 vols. London: Bentley. 1842. once a momentary sensation was caused by the sudden and by no means gentle descent of Mrs Langshawe's clenched fist on the table, as her most obvious and ready method of obtaining the attention of her busily-occupied partner to the wants of a lady near her. The sensation seemed but instantaneous; per haps the circumstance was not of unusual occurrence. Never was hospitality more genuine; never was enjoyment more real." As a matter of course, wealth and mercantile success form in such a district the grand bases for the estimation of human character. "Money covers a multitude of sins—of ignorance,” says our novelist, who, while acknowledging that there are men of cultivated minds and refined manners in Manchester, adds, that such characteristics are the subject of something like a prejudice on 'Change, as if they were thought unfavourable to the success of their possessor in life. We have certainly heard intelligent inhabitants of Manchester speak of such a prejudice existing, though we cannot say to what extent it may be understood to exist. A mercantile man, we have been told, was expressing his fears one day of how the state of the market might permanently affect his affairs, and added, with the greatest seriousness, "well, if the worst come to the worst, I have at least the consolation of thinking, that I have always paid sufficient attention to business. No one can say that I have trified away my time in reading, or any such foolish amusement." Mrs Stone introduces a few anecdotes, which she declares to be matter of fact, illustrative of the strange union between opulence and ignorance. We give one :— "Do you know,' said a gentleman, high in the official as well as in the private social circle of the town, to a bookseller, 'do you know a writer named Tom Moore?' 'Oh, many things; 'Lalla Rookh,' 'Hebrew Melodies, and' 'Oh, very well; when he writes anything in English, send it me.' And another, seeing a book lettered 'Vicar of Wake field.' 'The Vicar o' Wakefield-who's he? Oh (answering his own question), some writer on church rates, I suppose.'' Our novelist draws, and we believe justly, a considerable distinction between the leading manufacturers of Manchester and those who dwell in the outlying districts of the county, and in some other rural portions of the Factory Province. These, being much less subject to improving influences of all kinds, are regarded, even in Manchester, as a class of semi-barbarians. Mrs Stone sketches one of them as a man of vast wealth and local authority, but not in the least degree more refined in language, manners, and style of living, than when he was a humble rustic weaver:"I'm reeght glad to see thee, Mr Langshawe, that I am; you'll e'en tak me as ye find me; we've known each other these forty year, and the world's gone well wi' us both-thanks to luck and our own wit.' So saying, Mr Balshawe ushered his unexpected visitor through the passages of a large and elegant house, and finally enthroned him in an armed chair in the kitchen-his own accustomed domicile when guests were absent. 'Now stir yoursel', Maggy-come; don't let the grass grow under your feet! If I'd done so, you'd ne'er hae had this fine house about ye. Come, mistress, stir yourself, will you? look sharp-be slippery!' And Mrs Balshawe did stir herself. With the quiet celerity of one well accustomed to the work, she laid a cloth with other etceteras on the table, and turning up the sleeves of her gown, did rather more than superintend the progress of a steak which a servant was cooking. This operation achieved, she removed it to the table, placed chairs for her husband and his guest, and, as her wont was on ordinary occasions, prepared herself to wait upon them. This she did with great quietude and good humour; she looked meek and gentle, and it was quite evident that the leading principle, to which she had been for a lifetime habituated, was, that man was the nobler animal of the two; and if that was the case five-and-twenty years before, when her husband stepped from his little claypaved loom-shop into the small apartment which was parlour and bedroom and all,' how much more must it be the case now, when he was monarch of all he surveyed' in his elegant and capacious mansion, or in the magnificent factory and thickly-populated hamlet which nearly adjoined it! So she continued her attendance without remark, the husband expecting it as a matter of course, and his friend not seeming to think the circumstance remarkable enough to elicit any notice, though varying from his own domestic economy. "That'll do,' said Mr Balshawe, as his wife placed water, glasses, a flask of brandy, and pipes, on the table-that'll do. Now, make thysel' scarce; go to roost, and, I say, Mag, mind the parlour's ready in good time i' the mornin'; and stir your chalks, woman, and make those lazy husseys do it too. I mean to have some old cronies to dinner to-morrow; and mind, I'll have no slammacking and shirking o' work, but a right good dinner, well got. There-be off."" This, in the great cotton lord of a district, may be thought a wild fiction; but that there are such persons and such things we cannot doubt. Three or four years ago, we heard of a precisely similar incident. A wine merchant, travelling on business, chanced to be taken to the house of one of these provincial potentates, where he formed one of a company who were entertained in the most magnificent style. The kindhearted host, learning the occupation of his accidental we are. guest, requested him to call next day, when it was quired, as you know, in the trade of the times; but Then commenced the peculiar luxuries of a manu- Social life is full of anomalies, and it is a remarkable one, that, in Manchester and its neighbourhood, where intellectual pleasures are, generally speaking, few and faint, music is cultivated to an extent unexampled in England. Vocal harmony is almost an universal accomplishment, and the concerts occasionally given by amateur performers are of surprising excellence. Nor are there wanting students of science, though these chiefly belong to the professional classes, or patrons of the fine arts, or even cultivators of polite literature. Mrs Stone causes one of her characters to describe, in himself (rather awkward management on her part), a manufacturer of cultivated mind. "I have," says Mr Ainsley, "a considerable fortune, ac *If it be thought this picture is overdrawn, I can only reply, that it was sketched to me by a gentleman who was accidentally a guest at one of these degrading revelries.-Author. It might be asked, are such attainments utterly inconsistent with the lives of manufacturers in general? Our novelist states "the opinion of many well qualified to judge," that they are so with "success in the Manchester trade." To this we are loath to subscribe; for if men have time for gay and luxurious entertainments, may it not be presumed that they could have time also to improve an originally defective education, if they chose? We more fear that the difficulty lies in the want of will, and the defect of means to awaken superior tastes. Where is the leaven which would be required to leaven so great a mass? Where are the influences, whether purely moral, or merely matter of earthly feeling, to counteract the tendency to deify Mammon? Even an ambition to be as the great of rank are, would do something to check the money spirit, and lead to greater refinement; but the objects which inspire such a feeling are much wanting in these regions of the mine, the workshop, and the railway. Nor is Manchester alone in this respect. It is more or less a feature to be deplored in all our great mercantile cities, that mental cultivation lags sadly behind the march of wealth, so that in the domestic circle of many a man realising thousands per annum, more homely manners and untutored minds are to be found than in the homes of the denizens of other cities, where, perhaps, not so many hundreds are gained. There is generally in all the enjoyments of life in such scenes a materiality which is not to be seen elsewhere. Even the usually present redeeming trait of hospitality seems to partake of this character, and often looks like an effort to make up by some substantial expenditure for the conscious want of something more delicate, and which would be more enjoyed. It may, indeed, be said to be, in the main, benevolence acting upon the presumption which universally prevails, that all things are to be estimated by money. Perhaps the best hope of a corrective to all this is in the improved education which is in the course of being everywhere introduced. The first wealthy men of particular families are hopeless cases; but the second generation acquires better ideas, and more high bearing, and in time, that concentration of many of the best original and acquired gifts proper to human nature, an English gentleman, is produced. It must be remembered, that the rise of a wealthy class in the districts here more particularly under notice, is but an event of yesterday; who can tell what the tomorrow of their history will bring forth! THE "GREAT BRITAIN," STEAM VESSEL. [From the Times.] ship, the largest vessel in the world, now building by the SOME few particulars respecting this immense iron steamGreat Western Steam-Ship Company at Bristol, and which will be ready for sea in the early part of the next year, cannot fail to be interesting at this period, when the questions of transatlantic steam-navigation and of our communications with India form prominent subjects of discussion. The Great Western steam-vessel commenced running between Bristol and New York in the spring of 1838, and has continued her voyages ever since, often, too, under the most adverse circumstances, with a speed and regularity unequalled. The Great Western Company, in order to maintain the high ground which they had attained, and taking advantage of the improvements made known by scientific research, resolved to build an iron steam-ship of such vast dimensions and power, as should as much surpass the Great Western as that vessel had advantage of their experience of the peculiar excellencies itself surpassed everything previously afloat. Taking or defects in the Great Western and other steam-ships then in existence, and with the power of adopting every improvement that skill or vigilance could suggest, the directors proceeded to build a vessel with which nothing yet seen upon the waters of the world can be compared, and which is destined to prove experiments as novel and of as great public interest as the first opening of the transatlantic steam-navigation. As the huge ship proceeded on her stocks, various names were assigned to her, among which, in allusion to her immense size, that of "The Mammoth" became the favourite. After mature consideration, however, she was named "The Great Britain," a name appropriately emblematie of British skill and British greatness. She has been variously described at various periods, but now that she is all but completed, I have obtained the following description of her, which may be relied on as being accurate : exception of the flooring of her decks, and the flooring The Great Britain is built entirely of iron, with the and ornamental parts of her cabin. She is 324 feet in length aloft, or upwards of 100 feet longer than our largest line-of-battle ship. Her extreme breadth is 51 feet, and the depth of her hold 32 feet. She is registered 3200 tons, so that her bulk far exceeds that of any two which is of iron, and appropriated for the reception of the cargo. The upper deck, with the exception of a small break in the forecastle, is completely flush from stem to stern, without building or elevation of any kind, so that, besides the masts and funnel, there will be nothing above deck to offer resistance to a head wind. The two intermediate decks are appropriated exclusively to the use of passengers and the equipage of the ship, and consist of four grand saloons, forming, together, a length of dining room of 350 feet, two large ladies' cabins or family rooms, and 180 state rooms, each containing two spacious sleeping berths; so that, besides the portion appropriated to the crew, steward's department, &c., the immense number of 360 pessengers can be accommodated, each with a separate bed, without requiring a single sofa to be made up in any of the saloons. The principal saloon is 100 feet long by 32 feet wide, and 8 feet 3 inches high. Besides the vast space appropriated to the passengers, crew, &c., and that occupied by the engines, boilers, &c., she has sufficient room for the stowage of 1000 tons of coals, and 1200 tons of measurement goods. There are three boilers, capable of containing 200 tons of water, which will be heated by 24 fires; and she has four engines, each of 250 horse-power, making in all 1000 horse-power. Some idea may be formed of her vastness, when I state that 1400 tons of iron have been used in her construction. The most novel feature about the Great Britain is her mode of propulsion, which is by the newly improved screw-propeller, patented by Mr Smith of London (with improvements made upon it), and applied by that gentleman with complete success to the Archimedes. With a view to ascertaining the powers of the screw, as compared with paddles, the Archimedes was hired for some months by the Great Western Company, and a series of experiments made with screws of various size and form; and it being found that fully an equal velocity, with an equality of power, could be obtained as with paddles, conferring a great advantage under adverse circumstances, particularly in strong head-winds, the machinery at the same time being infinitely more simple, and at no time an incumbrance to the vessel, it was resolved not to use the paddles in the Great Britain, but to adopt the screw, with the improvements which had been made in the course of the various experiments with the Archimedes. The screw with which she will be fitted will be 16 feet in diameter, and placed under the stern, between the stern-post and the run of the ship, in which situation it will be quite out of the way of injury. It is calculated that this substitution of the screw-propeller for the paddles will relieve the Great Britain of 100 tons of top weight, and admit of the boilers and engines being adjusted in that part of the they best act as permanent ballast. The Great Britain ship which is best suited to receive them, and where will be fitted with six masts, on five of which a single fore and aft sail only will be carried, the mainmast alone being rigged with yards and topmast. These masts will be low, as compared with the size of the vessel, although the mainmast will be 95 feet long; and the quantity of canvass, though inconsiderable to what she would carry as a full-rugged ship, will still be as much as would cover three-quarters of an acre of ground. Her decorations are intended to be in the first style of nautical embellishment. It remains only to speak of the speed and qualifications which may be looked for in this large ship, and the services she may be expected to accomplish. It is difficult to ascertain the precise limits of the speed which she is calculated to perform at sea. Probably the expectations of the directors are greater on this point tham steamers in the world. She has four decks, the lowest of In a subsequent number, we are informed that the establishment of the infant school had begun to make the elder sisters, and in some instances the mothers of the children, ashamed of their comparative ignorance. The result was an evening school for pupils of advanced age, and 250 were already on the books. JEWISH GENEROSITY. Britain this may be done, for she would be able to deliver | The child said, " Afraid of what? I go to the infant despatches and upwards of 1000 troops, if necessary, at school." any point between the banks of the Indus and the mouth of the Ganges, in from 35 to 40 days. Allowing her consumption of coal to be 55 tons per day, to secure an average of 12 miles an hour, she could, by dispensing with goods, carry 40 days' stock of coals without occupying the least portion of the space appropriated to the officers, crew, and passengers of the ship, or adding one iota to her regular lading and draught of water; in which time, by following out the calculation, she would have run a distance of 12,000 miles; besides, should the patent fuel be found to answer, she would be able to carry upwards of sixty days' stock. In the Indian seas, too, it must be remembered, there are advantages not to be found in tre North Atlantic, in which nothing is more common than for a vessel to have head to wind during the whole outward passage to America, and consequently the steamer traversing it has often to battle with the elements the entire way. In the tropics, on the contrary, the presence of the trade-winds enables the commander to calculate with certainty on performing a very large portion of his voyage at the very maximum of speed. When it is considered that, after making a liberal allowance from these calculations, this steamer is so constructed as to sail with great rapidity, having a fair wind, there being no paddles to drag along, and no hindrance from the screw, there is no saying what length of voyage she might not accomplish with great expedition without a relay of fuel; and, it must be granted, the experiment is of vast importance in a national point of view. "THE VOICE OF JACOB." SUCH is the title of a somewhat remarkable periodical which has just fallen under our notice.* It purports to be the only published organ of the opinions and proceedings of the British Jews, and to have been commenced (in the form of small fortnightly sheets), rather more than twelve months ago, the date of the first number being "Rosh Hashanalı, A.M. 5602," or, according to our reckoning, 16th September, 1841. Confined in its circulation to its own proper people, it can be little known to the public at large; we may therefore be permitted to say a few words respecting its character and contents. "The Voice of Jacob" is apparently the first periodical attempted by the Jews in England, and its appearance may be said to mark a distinct era in the history of that highly interesting people. Oppressed, scoffed at, and plundered by our barbarous forefathers, the Jews have quietly pursued their unostentatious career, outlived the age of gross prejudice, and at length, in the year 1841, have established a press in defence of their rights and opinions, and as a record of their educational and religious proceedings. The periodical they have set up does not seem to be in the slightest degree political, but is conducted, as we should suppose, on the model of the "Zeitung des Judenthums," and the "Zion" of Germany, or the " Archives des Israëlites" of France, papers devoted to matters connected with the proceedings of Jewish institutions in continental Europe. To those who consider that whatever may be the future destiny reserved for the Hebrews, they tivation, the appearance of this Jewish periodical in will best be prepared for its enjoyment by mental culEngland, like all other tokens of advancement, will be received with anything but dissatisfaction; and it cannot be doubted that the very discussions it will originate must be attended with beneficial results. Turning to the contents of the work, we perceive that notices of institutions, specially devoted to the instruction of Jews, are of frequent occurrence. The Jews, we are told, are now alive to the necessity of education in its most extended sense-they are resolved to be behind none in general intelligence. Among other seminaries, they have commenced INFANT SCHOOLS. One of these useful institutions was opened on the 14th September, 1841, in Houndsditch, London, with The following anecdote, quoted from a Hamburgh paper, runs pleasingly counter to the popular idea concerning the cupidity of the Jews:-"Herr Solomon Heine, the rich Israelite banker of our town, who has so often distinguished himself by his patriotproof of liberality, which deserves to be generally pubism and beneficence, has just afforded an additional fished. The Lutheran church of the parish in which M. Heine resides being in a very tottering condition, and the Lutheran parishioners not possessing, or not being able to contribute, the necessary funds to secure its thorough repair, it was resolved that a collection should be made throughout the parish, without religious distinction. The deputation intrusted with the task of making the collection presented themselves first at M. Heine's with the list, which was still a virgin page.' Gentlemen,' said the banker, ‘I shall contribute to the repairs of your church with the utmost pleasure; but I can by no means accept the honour you offer me of inscribing my name at the head of the list. Go to Herr von Bauer, the richest of your scription; whatever he gives, I shall give the same.' own parishioners, and intreat him to head the subThe deputation followed this counsel, and Herr von Bauer, perceiving that the requisite sum was 30,00€ current marks (about L.2000), subscribed with splen did liberality for half that amount. The deputation having again presented themselves before Herr Heine, that gentleman immediately handed them an order upon his cashier for a like sum, thus completing at once the entire subscription, and exonerating the poorer parishioners from the necessity of a single farthing of outlay." CIVILISATION IN THE EAST. Of the advances making in the civilisation of the Jews in the East, we have a few stray notices that will be considered interesting. Take the following:-" A very interesting work, by Herr Joseph Schwarz, is in three parts: the two first of which are written in about to be published at Jerusalem. It is to appear Hebrew. The third part is in German, and contains a series of articles on the East, in its physical, political, and historical relations. The work is to be printed in the newly-established printing-office at Jerusalem.”— 21st of Nisan, 5602 (1st April, 1842.) printed only last year at Jerusalem. Seldom has any "We have before us a new edition of a ritual, circumstance excited in us so many joyful sensations as that of the publication, at so recent a date, of a Hebrew book in Jerusalem. Printing has, at all times, been the forerunner of improvement; the swallow which indicates the mental spring. Where printing is, there is an encouragement for reading; there are new ideas excited, there is life, there is progress. However indifferent the Jew may be to the signs of life interest."-15th of Ab, 5602 (22d July, 1842.) among his brethren in other quarters, such signs, manifested at Jerusalem, must always awaken his deepest Sir Moses Montefiore and other gentlemen, in their mission to the East on behalf of the oppressed Jews, were instrumental in establishing a school in Cairo for Hebrew children, which is said to be productive of much good. According to the report before us"The children have been redeemed from a state of the most revolting degradation; considerable progress has been made in elementary instruction; the good conciliated, and the spirit of toleration firmly estawill and zealous co-operation of all parties have been blished. One gratifying evidence of these latter results the committee had before them, in the wish expressed by many parents, not Jews, that their children might be permitted to share the benefits given tion of the pupils in the Hebrew tongue, this latter the Jewish committee, and attended by all the disexamination being conducted by all the members of tinguished Jews in the country. It is impossible to read of a scene like this, in one of the great cities of Egypt, amongst a population who were the other day they choose to confess, until an actual trial; but something considerably exceeding that of any sea-going steam-ship 120 children, who had undergone a preliminary train- in these schools. A day was devoted to the examinaat present afloat may be looked for. The rate at which the oriental steam-vessels accomplish their voyages does not average more than eight miles an hour; the Atlantic steamers about nine; and the most rapid sea voyage yet accomplished has not exceeded an average of ten miles an hour. It is estimated that the Great Britain will accomplish from ten to sixteen miles an hour, according to the nature of the weather and the sea; and no doubt is to thirteen miles per hour; taking the lowest of these entertained but that her average will be at least twelve rates, there would be an amazing increase over the great est triumphs of steam navigation hitherto heard of. Let us consider some of the advantages which might accrue to this country by the success of the Great Britain. Our overland mail is now received by us by the favour alone of jealous neighbours in Europe and of semi-barbarians in Africa. By these means alone is our overland correspondence, and our passengers to and from India, transmitted in about thirty-five days, at a great expense and inconvenience, in various transhipments and intermediate land carriage, subject to many annoyances and anxieties, our Indian correspondence liable to be intercepted, and all communication cut off, for at least a month, at any moment that either of these powers to which we have alluded might choose to do so. Who, then, can properly estimate the value of our being able to secure, in defiance of the world, the same expedition by our old and rightful track round the Cape of Good Hope? And by the Great ing from Mr Wilderspin. The president of the institution, Francis Goldsmid, Esq., made an eloquent appeal to the audience assembled on the occasion, concluding in the following terms:-"There could not be a doubt as to the utility of such an institution. Some years ago, indeed, people believed that education was ineffectual before the age of five or six years. the heart, and they could not begin too young to do But they could at that age educate the feelings and so. There was not a feeling of the infant that could not be turned to good or evil. There was an education which taught the child when he quarrelled_to kiss and be friends, and not to cherish enmity. Let them take, for example, the feeling of fear. Let them suppose that from the fear of darkness, as was perhaps natural when encouraged by threats of ghosts, a feeling of superstition would naturally be produced, which the after man would strive incessantly and vainly to get rid of. But if the groundlessness of such fears were explained, the infant would soon answer, as an infant did answer, who had been trained in the school at Edinburgh. The child was passing through a church at night, and was asked if it was not afraid. * Volume I. for 1841-2. Steill, Paternoster Row. London. the butchers and victims of an ancient and execrable volence which, out of that humble and disgusting persuperstition, without a feeling of high gratification, a sense of deep thankfulness, to the wisdom and benesecution, have thus contrived to extract a sure blessing and an abiding good." With respect to the Jews of Damascus, the following occurs in a letter from an English traveller to Sir of the Jews of Damascus there is an appearance of Moses Montefiore, 5th June, 1842 :-" In the houses well-doing, and in their persons and manners there is an air of good breeding, and cleanliness which pleased * We have heard it frequently alleged against the lower classes of Jews, that the taste for cleanliness is less perfect amongst them than amongst their neighbours. Whether such be true, we have no means of judging; but there can be no harm in our recom mending very great care in this respect, so as to put all reproach on so paltry a matter completely out of the question. Their children should be sent to school scrupulously clean, with hair cropped, and as neat in apparel as circumstances will admit. me much. I have heard from their own mouths the details of their horrible sufferings, but now, thank God, they enjoy much respect and consideration, and are happy. The three brothers Harrari, who are under British protection, have, at the instigation of our worthy and intelligent consul, Mr Wood, emancipated the slaves who were in their possession, and are doing their best to cause the other Jews of Damascus to do the same act. I think they will succeed." The editor warmly adds, in reference to the generous interference of Britain to rescue the unfortunate Damascene Jews from Mahommedan oppression-"The semblance of slavery is henceforth sought to be set aside in the whole Jewish community; but more than that-the principle is introduced, the example is promulgated in the Ottoman empire itself, where there is slavery indeed; and who shall say that this action and reaction of generous impulses shall not, in some future day, be found to have achieved a prouder triumph for British interests, the interests of humanity, than did the planting of her flag on the ruins of Acre? Inscrutable are the ways of providence; we can almost forgive Ratti Menton's quiet return to France, when we can thus regard the martyrdom of our brethren, associated as it has been with the emancipation of mind from the prejudices of fanaticism, and of person from the thrall of cupidity." ANECDOTE OF AN OLD RABBI. We close our extracts with the following characteristic anecdote of an old rabbi: -"Towards the middle of the last century, there lived at Prague, in Bohemia, the famous Rabbi Sarach Eidlitz, a man of deep intellect and profound conception, celebrated not only for his learning in the sacred Scriptures, the Talmud and its commentaries, but also known to have devoted a portion of his genius to mathematical pursuits, as his work (Art of Reckoning) has testified. According to the custom of the place, and the time in which he lived, he devoted himself exclusively to solitary study, or the gratuitous instruction of others; whilst his wife (from a small shop which she kept) earned the scanty means of an humble subsistence. Eidlitz, although aware of the abundant resources which his deep learning might open to him, yet declined receiving any remuneration for his services, as not consistent with the dictum of the sage -'Whoso misuses the crown will be cut off.' In the course of time, the circumstances of the learned man became still more reduced, so much so, that he was obliged to deprive himself of many of the comforts and frequently of some of the necessaries of life. Notwithstanding the privations he endured, he resolutely concealed his state of poverty, lest its being known might be considered as a tacit claim for relief. About this time, he one day received a visit from an old friend, Rabbi Israel Frankel, principal of the congregation of Prague, when, in the midst of confidential and familiar converse, Eidlitz disclosed to his friend his real position. Soon after, when they again met, Frankel, in the most delicate manner, offered Eidlitz a sum of money, which he most steadfastly refused to accept. Then, said Frankel, 'Thou knowest that God hath blessed me with wealth, but that, in consequence of my temporal position, I am prevented from acquiring the portion in the world to come due to the study of the law; if thou persist in refusing to accept this trifle, I shall say that it is envy that prompteth thee to refuse, lest I should, by my act, purchase such claim to a portion in the life to come.' These remarks had the desired effect, for they induced Eidlitz to accept the gift in consideration for the feelings of his friend. Time passed on; the friends saw each other frequently, and, as it might be imagined, the subject was never recurred to. After some years, Eidlitz was taken ill and died. Frankel, as a point of duty, went to the house of the deceased to take an inventory of his effects, a task, which in this case was thought to be a mere matter of form, as it was known that Eidlitz died in a state of poverty. In the study of his deceased friend, Frankel found a chest, in which were deposited manuscripts, and such other things as were esteemed of value by the late possessor. So sacred did Eidlitz hold the contents of this chest, that the key was never (during his lifetime) allowed out of his possession. Frankel, on searching this closet, discovered a packet, hard and round; upon its being drawn forth, it was found to be a sealed bag, containing a considerable amount of money; to this bag was attached a label, upon which were written these words, Deposited with me by my friend Rabbi Israel Frankel." FRENCH INVENTIONS. proposed to light Paris at night by about half a dozen Wild as the scheme was, he found a few artificial suns. moneyed persons to back him in some expensive experiments, and it is still pretended that he will succeed; so that Paris, with half a dozen large electrical machines, This is almost as grand an affair as that of the Venetian, will no longer stand in need of candles, oil, lamps, or gas. some years ago, who pretended that he had discovered the means of absorbing the sun's rays during the day, and bottling them up for use at night. There is another wild scheme on the tapis, for which attempts are making to get up a company. Charcoal having become excessively dear, it is proposed to collect all the vegetable refuse of the capital, and to carbonise the liqueous portion, so as to produce charcoal. The projectors calculate that this refuse is more than sufficient for the supply of the whole of the charcoal required for the capital, and the cost of which amounts to no less a sum than twelve millions of francs annually. That charcoal can be produced from refuse, such as potato-peel, cabbage-stalks, &c., there is been employed by the projectors, has obtained some very no doubt; for M. Raspail, the eminent chemist, who has good specimens; but the wiseacres have, in their estimates, overlooked one important fact. They propose to obtain their materials from the chiffoniers, who twice a-day go through the streets of Paris, raking, in all the heaps of refuse in the streets, for rags, old paper, and bones. They are to put into their baskets the refuse required by the company. This they can do, but it would require ten loads to each chiffonier for every one he has now to carry; and the expense of carriage would amount to much more than the worth of the article. The artificial charcoal will therefore also end in smoke.-London paper. MOLLY AND RICHARD'S DIALOGUE. IN a part of Pembrokeshire, chiefly along the coasts, inhabited by the descendants of Flemish settlers, and sometimes called "Little England beyond Wales," a peculiar dialect is spoken, seemingly allied to the Lowland Scotch, and what prevails in the north-eastern English counties. As a specimen of this form of speech, we present the following dialogue, which has been written and forwarded to us by an ingenious correspondent, whose good sense shines through the rude versification of the piece : SCENE-A Cottage. Richard Warlow standing watching the rain, which is falling in torrents; his wife Molly, with her children, are near the fire preparing supper. MOLLY. I tell thee what, Richard-'tis better for thee, RICHARD. Thairsilves thay will kip, thares no doubt av it, Molly, MOLLY. If some was more like 'um in some things, 't were better; An now a 's10 as unkid1l as unkid can be; There poor Peggy sits lone, like an owl on a tree, RICHARD. But then if ya'd heard Billy Williams to-daay, Thare's somethin like reasin in what As cute as a lawyer, a tould us the waay, Why, Richard, thou'rt leesing thy sinces, yindeed, Tothar day a was sayin, so "conk25 in his brags," That he could do more with his fiddle an fife The French are certainly the most inventive people on earth, but it seldom happens that they bring their schemes to successful maturity. Amongst the extraordinary things recently announced, was a substitute for gas, called liquid hydrogen, which was to cost only half as dear for an equal portion of light. A company was formed before the merits of the discovery could be tested, and now the shareholders find that the cost of their liquid is twice that of coal gas. The company, therefore, is all but dissolved. Another association, however, has been formed for the same object, and it is announced that the liquid, in this case, will be two-thirds cheaper than gas. This will probably end also in smoke, although it is probable that we shall see very little in the way of light. Two years ago a man announced that he had discovered the means of fixing the electric light, of any size, within the circumference of three feet, and gravely An thou can'st be trapsin three miles in such weathar, To be 'ticed by a scrimigin, 26 white lizzard fellaw.27 RICHARD. Blady,28 Molly, thou'lt beat him in talkin quiat hollaw; I would seat myself down in this snug yasy chair: MOLLY. An leave this snug fire! come, doff thy best jeckit, An taste my good porridge, with someat to deck it, That'ill sarve us for sow130 for many a day 'Tis a prisan our Jinny had given in pay For windin some yern that was snaffledal so bad, To think, an ya'll come to the rights of the matter. THE SPECTATOR ON SPECIFICS AND PATENT MEDICINES. Patent or secret remedies are absurd; the government ought neither to countenance nor to tolerate them; it should not levy halfpence on quack pill-boxes as it does; but, rather than thus indirectly encourage empiricism, it ought, with a parental care for the good of the public and the aggrandisement of the poor, to re-impose a small sum upon salt. A capital pamphlet, by a "Member of the College of Physicians," published in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and entitled, "The Present Ill State of the Practice of Physic in this Nation truly represented, and some remedies thereof humbly proposed to the two Houses of Parliament," exposes the absurdity of specifics in very pithy and quaint language: but it is to be feared that human intellectual progression is slower than sanguine people would wish, for tons of specifics are yet sold in the nation. This old pamphleteer settled the question concerning specifics about a century and a half ago, when he said "The bill-quacks give out that they can cure all diseases by one or two medicines, or have a certain remedy for some particular disease. That the first pretence is absurd and vain, every man of sense will acknowledge; and that the second is dangerous, I will demonstrate. Supposing they are masters of a good medicine for some one disease (which it is odds they are not), yet it is left to every man's judgment that makes use of it whether he have that disease; and how easy and frequent is it for men to mistake? But suppose he has that very disease for which the medicine is proper, yet how seldom is a disease alone, or how seldom accompanied with just the same symptoms? not to mention the age, the sex, the variety of causes, the late invasion or long standing of the distemper; all which circumstances it is impossible that one medicine should be suited to. I will instance one disease and one medicine that cures it specifically. The disease is an ague, which can hardly be mistaken, and the medicine the Jesuits' bark, which seems to be no edge-tool; and I may affirm, there is not any other disease that has so peculiar and certain a remedy. And yet all that have agues, one and another, take this medicine in the same manner; and I daresay it will kill as many as it cures. Perhaps, indeed, they shall not die presently, nor of the ague for which it is given, but of qther diseases that it either introduces or increases. How many asthmatical persons has it suffocated? how many intermitting (as well as remitting) fevers has it made continual and even malignant ? how many desperate cholics, some ending in palsies, have I known caused by it? with many other grievous distempers, and all for want of due preparation before, a right method in, and proper treatment after, the use of it. Of this scandalous sort of practices, therefore, I shall take no further notice, believe ing they can have no patron, no advocate, among wise men." As there are no specifics for one disease, or for all diseases, there would be no hardship in suppressing secret medicines, and in making it necessary that the ingredients of all nostrums should be made known upon demand. If a chemist discover a new mode of manufacturing a salt, or any other valuable commodity, let him by all means have the advantages which discoverers in any branch of art or manufactures are entitled to by patent-that is a totally different affair; but let us not only not have a governmentoffice for labelling empirical nostrums, but let the law prevent the propagation of compounds as good for this or for that, or for all diseases, as one of the most flagrant kinds of the illicit practice of medicine. LONDON: Published, with permission of the proprietors, by W. S. ORR, Paternoster Row. Printed by Bradbury and Evans, Whitefriars. Complete sets of the Journal are always to be had from the publishers or their agents; also, any odd numbers to complete sets. Persons requiring their volumes bound along with titlepages and contents, have only to give them into the hands of any bookseller, with orders to that effect. DINBURGA JOURNA CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF "CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE," CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE," &c. NUMBER 564. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1842. and apparently satisfactory considerations: First, that men immediately after, and while smarting under the excitement, of an injury, are in a very unfit state to apportion or inflict the punishment; and, secondly, that this kind of self-redress, from its natural tendency to unfairness or undue severity, fomented illblood and quarrels among neighbours, perhaps engendering feelings of revenge and retaliation. Whereas, by bringing the offence before an established court, the apple of discord is at once abstracted, and the punishment, whatever it may be, is acquiesced in as that of a temperate and unbiassed judge. A WORD ON OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW. THE objects of the laws are limited to the enforcement or restraint of certain specified actions; but public opinion exercises a wider jurisdiction. It takes notice of every imaginable wrong that may arise, and is a kind of imperial court, open on all sides, and to which every one has access. But whether redress is sought from the law, or from general sympathy, it is essential, in the first place, that the applicant himself should not be an offender, that he should come into court with clean hands, and not have provoked, by his own misdoings, the injury of which Our American neighbours, spite of their occasional he complains. It is also essential to justice that it deviations into Lynch law, are generally impressed be sought peaceably, not with tumult or outrage. with the supremacy of legal authority. A late tourThe ancients used to say of Jove, that when, in dis- ist mentions an instance of ready obedience to its putes, he took his thunder, it was a sure sign that he mandates, by one of a class not exemplary for was in the wrong; and it is not less certain that the peaceable demeanour. It was the arrest of a "nasuite of an individual is prejudiced by force and cla-vigator," or labourer on canals and railways, for debt. mour. Amidst noise and violence, indeed, it is obvious The constable approached, and laying hold of him, there can be no equitable adjudication, no investiga- said, "I take him in the name of the state." The tion of the merits; neither accusation nor defence fellow-workmen of the unfortunate defaulter looked can be duly heard. Hence, the first step on a trial in at him for some time, and then one of them said, drily an English court, is the old proclamation of Oyez !" I guess you must go with the constable." Subsethat is, "hear ye"-be silent, peaceable, and attentive. Peace and order are plainly so necessary to the settlement of controversies, that we invariably find the spectators on all sides, whatever may be their prepossessions, readily lend their aid to secure this indispensable preliminary to just decision. The predominance of this feeling has been strikingly evinced during the late protracted struggle between the work-people and their employers. While the danger of violence was impending, there was no disposition in any party to discuss the merits of the dispute. Differences of opinion might exist as to the points at issue, but the necessity of postponing the discussion of these to the more urgent duty of maintaining the general peace, was obvious to all. Upon the utility of this at least there could be no hesitation, either among magistrates, public writers, or intelligent individuals. Whatever might be the pretension of the conflicting parties, neither must be permitted to commit a manifest outrage on its opponent. The general industry, order, and security must not be subverted or endangered at the arbitrary will of any separate interest or class, however great or multitudi nous. The law is supreme, and to that all must defer. Judges and juries have been instituted; courts of session, of assize, and circuits, have been fixed, to hear and determine all wrongs, and no one must be allowed to judge his own cause, or redress his own injury. The more civilisation advances, the more manifest the duty becomes of a universal submission to legal authority. Private wars, duels, assassinations, incendiarisms, malicious injuries to property, and retaliatory outrages of every kind, are the barbarisms of a past age, the remnants of an imperfect judicial system, or of a crude social organisation. Until lately, it was thought that certain minor offences might be safely left to individual discretion and correction; that, for example, stealing a pocket-handkerchief, robbing an orchard, or wantonly breaking a window, might be summarily and adequately punished by a box on the ear, or a flogging from the injured party; but experience evinced the inconvenience of this sort of wild justice, as well as of the stocks, the pillory, the ducking-stool, the pump, and the horse-pond, and the advantages that would ensue by bringing even juvenile delinquents before the regular tribunals. It tended to augment nominally the annual number of offenders, but its general expediency is founded on these obvious quently, Mr Ferrall heard a disturbance in a tavern at New York, and wishing to see the process of capturing refractory citizens, went in. The constable, unsupported by any of his brethren, merely placed his hands on the shoulders of the combatants, when they separated, fell into the ranks, and walked off with this humble instrument of power like a flock of sheep. All this, it is well known, is not the result of any mean or recreant spirit in the people, nor of blind obedience to the terror imposed by arbitrary rule; but is more likely the offspring of deliberate reason, of a conviction that all are benefited by maintaining respect for the laws that protect and govern all, and that no single person or class can with propriety set up their own self-will or imagined interests, in defiance of those public ordinances which are the expressed will and embodied interests of the entire community. Feeling deeply interested in the welfare of the operative orders, and having been always ready, to the best of our ability and judgment, to give publicity to suggestions likely to accelerate their. elevation, it will be with reluctance that we arrive at any conclusions to their disadvantage, or give currency to any sentiments in this journal likely to place them under a disparaging aspect. Trying, however, the progress of the late commotions by those simple elements of justice and of common right that we have endeavoured to explain, we cannot conceal our impression, that serious errors have been committed from inadvertence, misguidance, or want of useful information. It would be out of place here to discuss the economical questions involved; but, even granting that the views on these questions entertained by the authors of the tumults are right, for which there is not the authority of a single writer of reputation, there still would remain a dreadful error with regard to proceedings. In all instances, the movements have been originated by parcels of the working classes only, the men of one place or factory, or a portion of them, often, we believe, by a very small number, though the discontent, it may be admitted, was probably more general. Now, these persons would have a perfect right to discontinue labour if they choose, and even to use all proper means to induce others to discontinue labour too; but they have no right to force others to discontinue their labour. Here it is that their great mistake lies, and it is one which no sophistry can extenuate. It may be true that, while others work, their object cannot be accomplished; PRICE 14d but that forms no justification. By interfering with the right of others to work, and to work at what rate they choose, they strike at the root of one of the first rights of man. It is a violation of natural right which no state could tolerate and live. Against such a movement-against the attempt to substitute the dominion of force for the dominion of reason-the reign of terror for the reign of law-society must ever be arrayed, and if arrayed, all opposition to its decrees must ever be speedily and inevitably crushed. For these unreasonable assumptions, we can only account by ascribing them to the cause already hinted at, namely, an inattention to, or, perhaps, in somé an ignorance of, the principles and laws sanctioned and instituted for the common benefit. Of principles we may have already said enough, and next, probably, we shall render a useful service by giving a short and simple exposition of the laws made for the general peace and security. These laws we shall find, for the most part, wisely framed, not for the good of masters only, but of workmen : in short, of every body; securing liberty to all, tyranny to none; allowing every person as much freedom as is compatible with the exercise of the same freedom by his neighbour; and permitting no one, with impunity, to be injured by fear, restraint, or intimidation, in purse, person, or reputation. The most important, and generally interesting, are the laws for individual security, especially those for protecting from bodily harm. Merely to threaten or menace with personal injury, through fear of which a man's business is interrupted, is an offence for which legal compensation may be obtained. To constitute an assault, it is not necessary there should be violence; barely to offer it is enough, if coupled with the ability and intention to inflict it. For example, to hold up the fist in a menacing manner, to strike with a cane or stick, though the assailant miss his aim, or throw a bottle, glass, or knife, with intent to injure, are all assaults. If there be an actual striking or beating, it forms a more aggravated case, which the English law terms a battery. But this beating may be very slight, hardly any at all; barely touching the person of another in a rude and angry manner is battery. So watchful is the law against corporal injuries, that every man's person is held inviolate; and no one, without lawful excuse, has a right to meddle with it in the slightest degree. Change of place, or right of locomotion, is an immunity not less vigilantly protected. To constitute a wrongful detention of the person, it is not necessary to lock a man up in a prison, or bolt the door on him in a room, warehouse, or private apartment; the forcibly detaining a person in the street, though it be only by the collar of his coat or button-hole, is enough to make a false imprisonment. Personal injuries become aggravated in character if committed with atrocious intentions, or with dangerous weapons. Thus, maliciously to shoot at, or in any manner attempt to discharge any kind of loaded arms, or to stab, cut, or wound any person, with intent to maim, disfigure, or disable such person, or do some other grievous bodily harm, subjects the offender to transportation for life, or not less than fifteen years, or to imprisonment for three years. This law (I. Vict. c. 85, sec. 4), as now expressed, was intended to meet those exhibitions of ruffianly vengeance which, some years past, were unhappily frequent in the northern counties. The same punishment extends to the gross outrage of sending an explosive mixture in a letter by post, through which any person is burnt, maimed, or otherwise grievously injured. |
